A common problem in chemical reaction processes is how to achieve the proper hydrodynamics in the reactor to efficiently produce the desired products. The reactants need to be mixed so that the molecules of the reaction components come into contact with the other components in the reaction including catalysts. The presence of a gaseous reactant can further require an increase in the surface area of the boundary between the gas and the liquid components to increase the efficiency of the reaction.
To improve mixing and contact between the reaction components, thin film reactors have been designed to include, among other things, a coating of a catalyst to the inner surface (i.e., treatment surface) of the treatment chamber. In addition, to enhance the adhesion of the catalyst to the treatment surface of the treatment chamber, sol-gel or washcoating can be applied to the treatment surface. However, over time, the coating tends to suffer from attrition and inevitably deactivate.
To address the need for an increase in surface area between the components, certain thin film reactors have been designed to include a rotating distributor that can be used to dispense the material, such as a fluid, to be treated onto the inner wall. However, because these reactors combine high-intensity heat exchange and short time of residence of materials to be treated, such a design can cause the materials, as the materials enters the treatment chamber, to quickly expand due to a sudden temperature differential between the treatment chamber and the source, resulting in an uneven spread of the material onto the inner wall of the treatment chamber.
Other thin film reactors have been provided with one or more rotating wipers that can be applied to the inner wall of the treatment chamber to distribute the materials to be treated onto the inner wall (i.e., treatment surface). However, the direct contact of the wipers on the treatment surface can result in contamination of the material, as well as undesirable wear on the wipers and the inner wall of the reactor. Moreover, because of the necessary location of the wipers, obtaining a uniform thin film along substantially the entire length of the inner wall of the treatment chamber remains an issue. In the presence of a viscous fluid, accumulation of material may result due to the non-uniform flow. When that occurs and the accumulated material contacts the wipers, the rotating system may lose its mechanical balance and rotation may be compromised.
Thin film reactors have also been provided with a rotating disc from which fluid to be processed is distributed onto the treatment surface of the treatment chamber. Unfortunately, such reactors are not designed to provide sufficiently long residence time and are not suitable for high throughputs. Furthermore, the current design for thin film reactors may be such that these thin film reactors lack the ability to provide high transport rates, that is, relatively high thermal transfer, mass transfer, or mixing rates, or a combination thereof, in connection with the fluid being processed.
Accordingly, there is a need for a thin film reactor with a design that can provide substantially uniform thin distribution of the fluid or material to be treated onto the treatment surface, that can enhance mixing and/or contact between the reaction components, that can provide a sufficiently long residence time, and that can provide relatively high transport rates, while providing high throughputs.